Independent participatory media for Iran

Three years after three prisoners were killed under torture at Kahrizak Prison, friends and families of the victims held a memorial service at Tehran’s Nour Mosque, Iranian media report.

The Mehr News Agency reports that the third-anniversary service for Mohsen Ruholamini, Mohammad Kamrani and Amir Javadifar was held Thursday night.

In 2009, when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s election victory was challenged by fraud allegations, sparking widespread protests, some of the protesters were arrested and sent to Kahrizak Prison, a notorious detention centre. Later a parliamentary probe revealed that the detainees were severely tortured at Kahrizak, and the three people mentioned above were killed under torture.

Mehr reports that two “security advisers” at Kahrizak were sentenced to death for their involvement in the incident, and sentencing for several other individuals is currently under review by the Supreme Court.

However, the cases against the judges who ordered the transfer of the detainees to Kahrizak still remain open, and the victims’ families are quoted as saying that they are awaiting “the trial of the infringing judges.”

Saeed Mortazavi, the former Tehran Prosecutor and current head of the Social Security Fund, is the main judge accused in the case. He had told the parliamentary probe that the detainees were transferred to Kahrizak due to a lack of space in Tehran’s Evin Prison. Back in July of 2009, he attributed their deaths to meningitis.

While there have been many reports of detainee abuse, especially following the controversial 2009 elections, the case against Kahrizak is being pursued by some prominent figures within the establishment.

Kahrizak was shut down by order of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei after the news broke that detainees had been killed under torture.

Mortazavi was removed from his post as Tehran Prosecutor, but Mahmoud Ahmadinejad immediately appointed him to head the Task Force to Fight Smuggling and, later, the Social Security Fund. Mortazavi’s latest appointment has been challenged by several MPs, but plans to pursue the matter have been suspended following the parliamentary elections.

In contrast to this year’s commemoration service for the victims of Kahrizak, last year several top officials attended, including a representative from the office of the Supreme Leader, former ministers and members of the Assembly of Experts as well as Revolutionary Guards commanders.